It was a dark weekday night in North Miami on US 1. Jackson “Rip” Holmes was driving his Uber route carrying two passengers and he needed to make a left turn. He approached the intersection and slowed down, seeing no on coming traffic, he made his left turn. As he did so, another car who coincidentally was driving for Lyft and had two passengers of his own, plowed into the right side of Rip’s car.
It looked like a classic violation of right of way, the lawsuits ensued and Rip’s license and job with Uber was on the line. If the court ruled he was at fault, he would lose his job as a driver and along with that, his livelihood.
He went to at least six lawyers and five of them said he was at fault, there was strict liability and nothing could be done – he should plead guilty or go to traffic school. Not Albert Quirantes at Ticket Law Center, The Ticket Lawyers PA, a Miami criminal and ticket lawyer with over 30 years experience fighting and winning traffic ticket trials. There had to be a reason other than negligence for this accident to have happened to such a careful and professional driver. He looked deep.
Quirantes listened to his client when he said the hedges were too high and used four YouTube videos Rip took at approximately at the same time the accident took place, the Florida Department of Transportation Intersection Design Guide and four cases from the appellate courts and the Florida Supreme Court to show that the legal cause of the accident was the un-maintained and high hedges at that intersection which prevented Rip from being able to see oncoming traffic on US 1.
“At trial, I showed the DOT intersection guide to the officer and asked him whether or not it required the city to maintain those hedges to allow a certain amount of feet of visibility“ added Quirantes, “the officer fully agreed with me but said he had to issue the ticket because of the way the law was written“.
The lawyer then pulled out 20 recent accident reports which blamed the accident on the poorly maintained hedges, yet the city has done nothing to trim them down. After viewing the videos and hearing the cross examination, the judge found the defendant not guilty and acquitted Rip.
“We brought a court reporter in to preserve the testimony and this will help settle the civil lawsuits“. My client may wind up suing the city as well said Albert Quirantes, Rip’s lawyer.
Albert Quirantes, more than just a lawyer, he’s a friend!
Albert Quirantes, Esq. Criminal DUI & Ticket Lawyers
1815 NW 7th St., Miami, FL 33125
www.TicketLawyer.com • 305-644-1800
We fight traffic tickets and our goal is to get your case dismissed!
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